I think we had six Japanese actors and actresses involved in the shoot, one of whom does not appear in this montage. Most of the dialogue in Mujo No Kaze is in Japanese, genuine language too — non of the jibberish I’ve heard in some old Hollywood movies!

Thanks Graham for creating this set of photos (all were taken on the day of the casting try outs). Posted by Paul Nethercott

It’s officially done. Well, sort of. The production part is done. We’ve premiered the teaser, had the wrap party, shot the last scenes, and bid our beloved actors farewell. Sad day.

I’d have to say that the best part of the day was our visit to the Ghibli museum. I was admittedly apprehensive about going, but as the visit progressed, I became increasingly more enchanted with the worlds Miyazaki created. We spent scarcely two hours in the museum, and, looking back, I wish we could have had more time. My favorite room was a replica of Miyazaki’s studio; the walls were covered with his watercolor sketches and beautiful landscapes. Alyssa and I were marvelling over his eclectic collection of artwork; he has books full of beautiful places, collections of drawings–of old people, for example–scrapbooks with just pictures of Japanese architecture, others with architecture from other places. It was astounding. I loved the huge boxes and jars full of stubby, worn-out drawing pencils. In short, it was lovely.

A bunch of us went shopping after that and found a bunch of great gifts for the fam back home. I’m really excited about the things we found, and I’d love to share, but I’m pretty sure my mom is going to read this, and then I’d miss the look on her face, which should be priceless… teehee. But yeah, we had a really wonderful time wandering.

This evening we went to a church in Nakano and had a film festival where we premiered the teaser for Mujo No Kaze and watched several other films by local filmmakers, which were all very exciting to see. It was a great opportunity to meet like-minded people. We also said good-bye (and thank you) to our actors, and it was then that it started to sink in that the production phase of our film was done. We’re still recovering. Or rather, we’re bracing ourselves for the onslaught of post-production work. (Eek.)

Tomorrow we’re off to see Fuji-san, and I’m totally excited about that; it was one of the things on my list to do before I die. So yes. Adieu, have a good day!

Greetings from Tokyo. It’s nearing midnight here and we have finished our 4th day of shooting. Things have been going great. The film will be a great addition to your home DVD library (Only 10.99 + tax) Just kidding! It’s been a great experience just being in Japan and experiencing life as a Gaijin (foreigner). God has been good and our crew has been terrific.

Today we shot in a section of Tokyo called Shibuya. Similar to Times Square, New York, this area is known for it’s large square and pedestrian traffic. It was interesting to weave through the people on their way to school and to work as we attempted to film our main character running through the crowd.

Here’s a video I took of the square at night. I apologize for the poor quality, I took it with my digital photo camera. (Trust me our film will look better…) ;)

The most interesting location we have had so far was yesterday as we actually left the city and traveled to the countryside to film at a small train station. The area was beautiful with a running river, trees and an authentic Japanese temple as well as a brewery. We felt like we were sightseeing as we shot our film!

Aside from the film, we truly are getting the Japanese experience. I, along with several brave members of our crew, have eaten things we never would have believed. I have eaten squid, octupus and even raw horse. (We were really hungry…)

We have seen many different sides of the culture, from the electric city, which has evey piece of technology you could even imagine, to a crowded Subway where people were literally shoved in, to an authentic Japanese onsen, this trip has been terrific. Thank you for all your prayers and continued support.